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According to an Econsultancy survey on consumer attitudes toward advertising, familiarity may breed contempt.

Overall, US Internet users were most likely to say they “hated” advertising on television. But some of the variation by age suggests that users most affected by different advertising tend to be most annoyed by it. Two-fifths of respondents ages 18 to 24 hated ads on sites such as YouTube and Hulu, along with 20% of 25- to 38-year-olds, compared with just 10% of respondents ages 55 and older. Relatively few of those older respondents watch online video compared with their Gen Y counterparts.

Outdoor, magazine and newspaper ads were least hated, probably because they are less intrusive than other media.

Overall, 27% of Internet users said they hated mobile ads, which many do not yet see on a regular basis. But among “digital sophisticates,” defined as users who have performed actions such as using the mobile Internet or checking their e-mail via mobile, the proportion rose to 37%. That group, along with “influencers” who had at least 500 friends or followers on Facebook or Twitter, was also almost twice as likely as average to hate ads on online video sites.

Variations by age and usage habits disappeared when Econsultancy took a positive tack and asked what made Internet users appreciate ads. Nearly two-thirds liked ads that gave them discounts, significantly higher than the 46% who said it was a fair trade-off for free content.

Marketers and publishers that depend on users agreeing to that trade-off on newer media may run into trouble, especially with early adopters.

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